Change is in the air

For those who wonder why everything seems to be going into bursting destruction and change this year, 2008 is the year of Shiva. If you wonder who Shiva is, read this. Shiva is part of the Hindu holy trinity, and is the third God (not in ranking of importance though): Brahma is the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva has the honor of being the Destroyer. Pretty scary deity for some, when he walks around with his necklace made of human skulls and his blue skin.

All in all, Shiva is the best deity around, I feel. It definitely took a tall blue-skinned violent God to kick me strong in the butt and get me to move ahead in my Life. I felt so sure about the need to leave my job and life as an investment banker, and yet... You know you are burying yourself in a life of seemingly plenty, but even the money does not help make it feel bearable anymore. And yet it seems impossible to have the balls to put an end to it all. Start anew and be who you are destined to be. And I made it. I guess a lot of things made that possible, first of all people: Imperfect Husband, Perfect Guru (who is interestingly called Shiva as well), and an intuition that I should trust the Universe.

And I can't believe how good it feels. Not only has the Universe brought me all I needed since then, job, money, house... but it really feels good to wake up in the morning and not feel like you have a stone in the stomach cause you have to go to work, which you hate, and you must leave home, which you love. It never really stroke me as that simple, but the key to being happy is really to do more of the things that we like, and less of those we don't. The big big sticking point is, though, that years, decades, centuries of catholic and protestant rambling on this world (and I believe I can safely extent that statement to other monotheist religions) have raised guilt, suffering and misery to the altar of worship, and most of our friends in this Life feel unsafe and guilty when they actually are at ease, in love, happy and content. Well, after roughly 20 odd years of denying my true nature and 10 more forcing myself down a path that I had been convinced was my own, I decided to throw my foot down onto the Earth, shatter the chains and live in the Truth. Was not easy, but fully worth the while. And once you are there, you wonder why you did not do it before. It was not meant to be, probably too early, but still. So many moments of misery, of despair, so many pounds accumulated through drinking and eating to fill a bottomless well...

And then I want to scream. I AM GAY. I AM NOT PERFECT. I AM IN LOVE. I HATED THIS LIFE OF PRETENSE. I AM A GREAT SOUL. I AM A DESERVING HUSBAND, SON, FRIEND, BROTHER. I AM THE DIVINE. I AM THE LIGHT. I AM WHO I AM. I AM.

I have so much anger, and so much compassion all at once. Two cohabiting contradicting sides of the same thing, in a very tight body (though I have much skin to house a few more people).

Life is such a gift. Don't deny the possibility of changing to upgrade your daily experience, even if that means destroying the present every night before you go to bed, to create a new present as you wake up in the morning. I love that amazing sentence by Paul Ortega, which he shared with us in LA last summer: 'Don’t wait until you are in horrible circumstances to display bigness, consciousness and spanda. Do that every day in your Life.'

Time to go and hugs my imperfect dogs, and show them the love.

Shanti OM.

IY

Wattaweek

Wattaweek. Got my fortune told, a friend is leaving town, my sister is moving back to France, intensive practices all week, 2 Kalari sessions, a new computer, no more holidays, and plenty of good food.

Much to share, I will get down to it.

And Gopi called yeah :)

IY

Cours de bonheur?

FINALLY! I was just checking the French news on TV5, and after announcing that the French president is getting a divorce (not passing judgment, but how can someone so self-involved have ever convinced someone to share a lifetime together?), they had this amazing short piece on a new initiative in Swiss high schools.

From this week onwards, most high school students across Switzerland with be having classes on happiness. Just like students attend math, French or history classes, they will now also receive education on the concept and details of happiness. I find that such a thrilling idea! They interviewed students who just left the class, and they all seemed so thrilled, surprised, awaken... The fact that no exam will take place in these classes probably helps, but I think this is the most important subject any young adult can be educated upon these days.

Long live Switzerland. I am truly thinking of moving over to that splendid place, more so every day.

Shanti Om.

IY

Back on the rope

Ready to write again. I had a black out, too busy and dry, I guess. The juices are flowing, so get ready to read me again.

IY

Global Mala in Singapore

Come come come come come to Pure Raffles City on September 22nd at 9AM for a round of 108 sun salutations to celebrate Peace Day and the World!

I will be leading the Practice, don't be late.

Where is the Rasa?????????

I am juiceless today. No Rasa. No Bhava. No mood. No practice.

Meditation. 108 neeralamba mantras. Breathing. Cleaning the toilet floor. Flossing. Tongue scraping. Salad. One muffin (bloody hell, it was from Imperfect Mama in law - sinful but gewd :D).

Missing winter in Hong Kong, the snow in Japan. Tired again. Of Maya. But no Rasa to work on opening up.

Damn!

IY

Thought of the day

What makes the practitioner suffer is that there is always a beginning of a process followed by a moment where this process reaches an end, only to be replaced by another process. According to the tantrikas, the duality that we perceive is merely a state of contraction. At the moment when the Shakti, or energy, is no longer contracted, we are able to relax, and at the same time we experience non duality because our body/thought is no longer limited.

Daniel Odier
Yoga Spandakarika